You're reading: Donetsk district administrative court cancels decrees on awarding Hero of Ukraine to Bandera

Donetsk District Administrative Court on Friday declared unlawful and subject to repeal the decree of President Viktor Yuschenko dated January 20 2010 conferred the Hero of Ukraine title on Stepan Bandera.

The plaintiff in the case – lawyer Volodymyr Olentsevych said that under the Ukrainian legislation the title of Hero of Ukraine may be conferred only on a citizen of Ukraine.

According to him, Bandera is not a citizen of Ukraine, since he died in 1959 before Ukraine gained independence in 1991.

The judges agreed with the plaintiff and confirmed that "those who died before 1991, could not be citizens of Ukraine and decided to uphold a complaint against the Ukrainian president’s decision to award the title of Hero of Ukraine to Bandera, recognize his decree as unlawful and cancel it."

The court’s ruling can be challenged at the Appeal Court of Donetsk region within ten days.